How to make the most of an interview with a journalist

My name is Monica Rosenfeld. I’m a professional speaker and the founder of WordStorm PR. In today’s video I’m going to teach you how to make the most of an interview with a journalist.

The first thing I’d like to point out is that it’s important to take this opportunity very seriously. The analogy that I like to use is imagine you had the opportunity to magnify your message on a stage where they’ll potentially be millions of people in the audience. Would you just wing that? Chances are you wouldn’t, but you would prepare very hard and very carefully. So then why would you just wing an opportunity of an interview with a journalist when you speak to one journalist you are potentially speaking to millions and getting the opportunity to communicate your message to millions.

So what I would suggest is come up with five key messages about your business. These messages should be clear and concise and as you come up with these five messages you will find that they cover different areas of your business. And then when a journalist asks you the question answer the question but then tack on one of the key messages at the end of the answer. You may worry that you’re going to sound like a robot doing this and the thing is it’s all about practice. If you know your key messages like the back of your hand you will not sound robotic. You’ll actually be able to make it sound conversational.

Now these key messages aren’t reserved purely for media. These are the sort of messages you would be communicating with anyone that you’re talking about your business whether it be at a networking function a dinner party or anywhere else. What I tell clients is that I should be able to wake you up at 3am and you should be able to tell me what your five key messages are. That’s how familiar you should be about them, or with them should I say.

Now a lot of people feel self-conscious about promoting their business when talking to a journalist and just don’t think it’s the done thing. But that’s not true. When you give media interviews this is your opportunity to magnify your message. You just have to learn how to do it in the best way possible and then it’s a win-win for everyone because the audience gets value, the journalist gets content and you get money can’t buy publicity.

If you’d like to learn more or have any comments, feel free to ask me. We do actually have a media training course available which we customize to clients, just thought I’d throw that in and feel free like comment or share if you think this is of value to anyone else. Thank you and I look forward to seeing you next week.